Midland Explorers hosting fastpitch tourney at Emerson

Cash Kruth

Published
8:00 pm EDT, Thursday, June 12, 2008

The Midland Explorers will host their seventh annual Boulevard Lounge Tournament this weekend at Emerson Park in Midland. And manager Clint Beane and his players are ready to play in front of the hometown crowd.

"Oh yeah, we're ready," Beane said. "The guys are all excited about coming to Midland. It's one of the better places that we play, and the other teams look forward to coming in also. It's a good softball town."

The Explorers, who are currently ranked No. 13 in the International Softball Congress World Tournament Rankings, open the tournament at 7:30 p.m. tonight at Currie Stadium against HBC Lightning (Rice Creek, Mich.).

Although the game will mark the first time the Explorers have played together since the Legends of Fastpitch Tournament on Memorial Day weekend, Beane isn't concerned about any layoff.

"Oh no, not at all," Beane said. "A lot of our guys play in city leagues, so the pitchers get to throw a little bit and the hitters get some swings in. We should be all right."

There are two separate tournaments taking place at Emerson Park this weekend - the ISC World Tournament qualifier, which has eight teams split into two divisions, and the six-team ISC Tournament of Champions qualifier.

The Explorers are in the Hank Reis Memorial Division of the ISC World Tournament qualifier, which was named in honor of Reis, a lifetime fastpitch fan who passed away earlier this spring.

In the same division with the Explorers are the No. 11 Jarvis Gamblers (Ontario) and No. 21 Scarborough Wolverines (Ontario). The No. 3 Kitchener Rivershark Twins (Ontario) are in the Bailey Insurance Division.

The third-ranked New York Knights and 29th-ranked Priority Mortgage (Mich.) are also two top teams in the area this weekend for the ISC Tournament of Champions qualifier.

"You always want to win - your main goal is to win the tournament - but you want to play well, too," Beane said of the Explorers' goal heading into such a competitive tournament. "That's what we need to do right off the bat, is to play well and get ready for the other tournaments. This is where it starts."

Aside from their three scheduled games, the Explorers will also take part in an exhibition at approximately 3:45 p.m. Saturday against the Midland Dawgs, a Special Olympics softball team.

"That's real important for our team, and it's nice for the community to do that," Beane said of the exhibition. "The Explorers used do it in the past and then the dates didn't work out for the two teams, but finally this year we got it back to where it worked into everyone's schedule."

The Explorers' 7:30 p.m. game tonight is the tournament's opening game. Midland then faces the Gamblers at 2 p.m. Saturday and the Thomson Merchants (Ill.) at 5 p.m.

The exhibition against the Midland Dawgs will be played between the 2 p.m. and 5 p.m. games.

The two semifinals will take place at 12:30 p.m. Saturday, with the championship at 2:30 p.m.

Admission for all games is free.

"I'd like to tell the people to come out and enjoy this softball," Beane said. "This is about as good as it gets when it comes to fastpitch - it's a very good caliber of ball."